Mayo beat Kerry in thriller to end 75-year All-Ireland wait

ByMatt Gault

BBC Sport NI elder writer astatine Croke Park

Mayo ended a 75-year hold for the county's 4th All-Ireland Senior Football rubric with a 1-20 to 1-17 triumph implicit Kerry successful a captivating and aggravated last that went down to the ligament astatine a raucous Croke Park.

In singular scenes, the emotion came pouring retired of the Mayo squad and supporters arsenic they lifted 3 quarters of a period worthy of symptom with a ferocious and tireless show that denied Kerry a 2nd consecutive title.

Mayo, who came into the crippled having mislaid 13 finals - including 2 replays - since their 1951 triumph, suffered a dilatory commencement and fell 1-6 to 0-3 down successful the opening exchanges arsenic talisman David Clifford's extremity helped Kerry found aboriginal dominance.

But Mayo bounced backmost and trailed by lone a constituent astatine 1-8 to 0-10 astatine half-time earlier surging wide successful the 3rd quarter, with Darragh Beirne's extremity helping the Westerners physique a five-point lead.

Kerry clawed their mode backmost and sat conscionable 2 points down arsenic they chased a precocious leveller, but they failed to onslaught earlier Tommy Conroy's people capped a celebrated triumph for Mayo.

It besides provided an unforgettable decision to a whirlwind archetypal play nether manager Andy Moran - who mislaid six finals during his Mayo playing days - and sends starlet Kobe McDonald disconnected to Australia an All-Ireland champion astatine conscionable 18 years of age.

"We kept the faith. We're All-Ireland champions," said an overjoyed Mayo skipper Jack Coyne.

"This is what each time of my beingness I've dreamed of doing. To beryllium capable to bash this, I can't enactment it into words."

It would not beryllium a large time astatine Croke Park for Mayo without symptom for their long-suffering fans - and it came aboriginal this twelvemonth during a nervy opening 15 minutes erstwhile Kerry threatened to dart disconnected into the distance.

With the always-excellent Paudie Clifford influential aboriginal on, Kerry feasted connected Mayo nerves to registry the game's 3 opening scores, with David Clifford striking doubly aft Dylan Casey fisted implicit the bar.

It could person been worse for Mayo, who breathed a suspiration of alleviation erstwhile Sean O'Brien changeable wide aft receiving a Sean O'Shea fist walk and turning sharply to outfox his marker Bob Tuohy.

While David McBrien delivered a nerve-settling people for Mayo, the high-pressing Westerners kicked a succession of shots abbreviated during the opening 4th arsenic they favoured low-percentage efforts successful a bid to ramp up scoreboard pressure.

Kerry's scores seemed to travel easier, and erstwhile a Sean O'Shea effort was followed by Clifford sneaking successful down Donnacha McHugh, rounding Jack Livingstone and blasting the shot into the net, determination was a consciousness that the crippled was already slipping distant from the Connacht county.

But backmost they came. Armed with ferocious intent and a guardant enactment ravenous for turnover ball, Mayo rattled Kerry during a play erstwhile they clawed backmost from 7 points down to revive their hopes.

Suddenly it was Kerry shots going awry, with David Clifford's two-point escaped missing aft Jack Carney had raised an orangish emblem astatine the Hill 16 end.

While Sean O'Shea fisted a people to enactment Kerry 1-6 to 0-3 up, Ryan O'Donoghue's superb two-pointer, coupled with Tommy Conroy's instauration for Paul Towey, breathed caller beingness into the Mayo cause.

Indeed, aft Darragh Beirne and O'Donoghue frees and a Sam Callinan score, Kerry's pb was chopped to 1 astatine 1-6 to 0-8. After Tom O'Sullivan's score, Beirne and Conroy struck to gully Mayo level, though a cleverly worked constituent from totemic Kingdom midfielder Joe O'Connor ensured Kerry held a slender vantage astatine the break.

Lifted by a spirited second-quarter showing, Mayo emerged for the 2nd fractional and continued to rattle Kerry, shutting down abstraction and flooding guardant successful numbers.

It paid dividends during a important 10-minute play aft the restart erstwhile a Beirne constituent and McDonald's '45 enactment Mayo up earlier Beirne side-footed a chill decorativeness into the Kerry nett aft O'Donoghue and David McBrien combined successful a flowing attack.

"I had envisioned during the week that the shot would get flicked crossed to maine and I was going to deed it apical right," said Beirne of his goal.

"When the shot came to me, I conscionable enactment the ft done it, saw it nestle successful the apical country and the remainder is history."

Substitute Keith Evans replied for a rocked Kerry, but Jack Carney's nailed two-pointed effort enactment Mayo 1-14 to 1-9 up and amid a hardly conceivable cacophony of sound from the Croke Park stands.

Wary of not panicking, Kerry reeled disconnected the adjacent 4 scores to propulsion wrong 1 but their hopes were kept live by goalkeeper Shane Murphy, who tipped Kobe McDonald's goal-bound changeable implicit the bar.

After David Clifford fisted implicit the bar, Mayo again streaked wide erstwhile the superb O'Donoghue landed a two-pointer aft different McDonald people to enactment Moran's men 1-19 to 1-14 successful front.

In a frantic and incredibly tense closing 10 minutes, brothers David and Paudie Clifford combined for 3 points to bring Kerry backmost to wrong two.

Chasing a precocious shooting opportunity, Kerry held connected to the shot earlier Sean O'Shea's do-or-die effort from extracurricular the two-point arc dropped short.

Having regained possession, Mayo - arsenic they had done truthful often - streamed guardant and recovered Conroy, who kicked the security people to guarantee Mayo's occurrence and spark ecstatic scenes among the greenish and reddish fans astatine Croke Park.

Kerry: Shane Murphy; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey (0-1); Graham O'Sullivan (0-1), Mike Breen, Gavin White; Mark O'Shea, Sean O'Brien; Joe O'Connor (0-1), Sean O'Shea (0-3), Tom O'Sullivan (0-1); Paudie Clifford (0-3, 1x'45), David Clifford (1-6, 1x2pt), Dylan Geaney.

Subs: Evan Looney for Casey (28-30), Keith Evans (0-1) for T O'Sullivan (half-time), Tomas Kennedy for Geaney (50), Brian O Beaglaioch for White (60), Evan Looney for P Murphy (61), Micheal Burns for O'Brien (63).

Mayo: Jack Livingstone; Jack Coyne (capt), Donnacha McHugh, Eoin McGreal; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Enda Hession; Bob Tuohy, Jack Carney (0-4, 2x2pt); Paul Towey, Diarmuid O'Connor, Jordan Flynn; Darragh Beirne- (1-3, 2f), Ryan O'Donoghue (0-5, 2x2pt, 1f), Kobe McDonald (0-3, 1x'45).

Subs: Tommy Conroy (0-2) for Towey (25), Mattie Ruane for Tuohy (53), Rory Brickenden for McGreal (53), Conor Loftus for O'Connor (58), Paddy Durcan for Callinan (66).

Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan)